Introduction

Use this Real-Life Lens Plan to help students dive deep into Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night and examine the play’s characters and plot through the lens of the pain love causes. How do the characters act in love? How does love cause them pain? Do we all suffer from love in the same way?

Materials

  • Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
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Introduce the Lens

To activate students’ thinking, choose one or two of the following Real-Life Links to use in an engagement activity. Have students read, watch, or listen and discuss the content. Encourage students to jot down notes, or record class notes on the board for future reference.

Pose the following Big Idea Questions to the class:

How can love cause suffering?  

Why do we sometimes desire what may be unattainable?

Engagement Activity

Have students write quick initial responses to the questions. Then discuss the questions, either as a class or in small groups. Prompt students to consider their own experiences, those of friends, or relevant stories from books or movies they are familiar with. Following discussion, give students time to revise their initial responses, and ask volunteers to share what they wrote with the class.

CCSS

Introduce the Driving Questions

Begin by having students write their own questions about the lesson topic. Encourage them to think about what they already know about the pain of love and what they’re interested in exploring further.

Hand out the Driving Questions Worksheet. Review the questions as a class. Students should enter initial answers to the questions as they read Twelfth Night. They will revisit the questions and revise their answers following the lesson activities, classroom discussion, and completion of the play. Remind students to support their responses with text evidence. 

Integrate the Driving Questions into your classroom discussions. Use them to help guide students’ thinking about the Big Idea Questions.

1. What is meant by Orsino’s opening lines, and how do they set the mood of the play?  

If music be the food of love, play on.
Give me excess of it that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
(No Fear: 1.1.1–3)

2. In what ways is Viola suffering?  

3. In what ways is the suffering of Viola and Olivia similar?  

4. Do you think Malvolio is truly in love with Olivia? Why or why not?  

5. How does Viola’s gender switch complicate the love triangle and add humor?  

6. What is suggested by Olivia’s attraction toward Cesario?  

7. Whose desires are eventually satisfied and pain ended? Whose are not?   

8. If Twelfth Night is about the pain of love, what makes it a comedy?

CCSS

Introduce the "Through the Lens" Activity

Activity: Personal Experience

In this activity, students will explore experiencing the pain of love in their own lives.

Ask students to choose a time when love felt painful to them or caused them to suffer. Ask them to write a paragraph about their experience. In their paragraphs, students could answer such questions as: Who did I feel I was in love with? Did I let the person know my feelings? How did that person seem to feel or act toward me? How did I get over my lovesickness? Note that some students may not feel comfortable sharing who they felt in love with. Reassure them that this information is not required. Alternatively, allow students to think of a friend or family member whose experience they might write about. 

Encourage students to return to the Big Idea Questions and consider how their experiences informed their initial answers. 

Prompt a whole-class discussion about the paragraphs with questions such as: What does it feel like to be lovesick? Is there anything you can do about it? Is lovesickness universal? Is it timeless? If students are reluctant to share their personal experiences, encourage them to talk in general terms.

Before moving on, explain that students will explore the pain of love as they read the play Twelfth Night.

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Ask students to think about and describe what it feels like (or might feel like) to be in love, and then to be in love with someone who does not love him or her back. If students have no experience with this scenario, allow them to choose a movie, TV show, song, or book they like that deals with such a situation. Proceed with a discussion as outlined above.

Increase difficulty

Have students consider and include in their paragraphs which aspects of their experience they think were unique to them and which might be felt universally by anyone in a lovesick situation.

Introduce the Final Project

Before moving on, introduce the final projects to the class (see below for details). Have students choose the project they will complete and encourage them to keep their project in mind as they read the play. Facilitate the formation of project groups if necessary.

Assign the Midpoint Activities

Activity 1: Character Web

After reading the first two acts of Twelfth Night, students will analyze the characters in terms of love and suffering by creating character webs. Students will: 

  • Write the main characters’ names in circles in their notebooks. 

  • Draw arrows from each character to the object of his/her love/desire.   

  • Add a one-sentence caption below each circle describing how that character’s love causes him/her pain. 

  • Add a line from the play that reveals how love causes the character pain. 


If students need scaffolding, elicit the main characters and create the circles/basis for the web on the board for students to copy before having them start drawing arrows. 

When all webs are complete, discuss them in small groups or as a class. What did students observe about each character? Did they find similar or different lines from the play?

CCSS

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Have students work in pairs to create their character webs, write captions, and search for appropriate text evidence.

Increase difficulty

Have students write a summarizing paragraph explaining why the suffering relationships illustrated in their character webs are humorous in the context of the play, rather than serious or tragic.

Activity 2: A Conversation Between Orsino and Viola/Cesario

After reading the first two acts of the play, students will analyze and discuss a conversation between two characters about who feels love (“a pang of heart”) more deeply—men or women. Students will: 

  • Perform a reading of Orsino’s and Viola’s conversation (No Fear: 2.4.91–124) in pairs. Follow paired readings by having a few pairs read in front of the class. 

  • Discuss the passage’s meaning with their partner, taking notes on their analysis. 

  • Decide whether they agree with Orsino (that men love more deeply and suffer more greatly than women) or with Viola (who argues that women feel more deeply than men). 

  • Conduct a class poll on the issue.

CCSS

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Have students discuss the passage’s meaning in small groups, ensuring that each group has a more advanced student who can help guide the discussion.

Increase difficulty

Finish by having students write a persuasive essay agreeing with either Orsino or Viola, supporting their view with text evidence from the play as well as personal experience.

Final Projects

Students will work on their final projects after they have finished reading the complete text of Twelfth Night. Project 1 will be completed by students working in groups, while Project 2 calls for individual work.

Final Project 1: Plan a Production of the Play

Student groups will plan a production of Twelfth Night. Pass out the Plan a Production of the Play Worksheet to help students plan their staging. First, review the worksheet to be sure students understand what they need to do. Students will: 

  • Choose film/stage actors to play the roles of the characters. 

  • Plan costumes. 

  • Plan sets for two settings: Olivia’s house and the courtyard surrounding her house. 

  • Choose a scene, block it, and decide on its direction. 

  • Present their ideas to the class in a presentation (using presentation software or a web program).

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Allow students to choose one scene from the play to plan, which will limit the characters and sets. You might also consider grouping together students with different skill levels.

Increase difficulty

Extend the project by having students watch the 1969 British TV play of Twelfth Night, starring Joan Plowright and Alec Guinness, and critique the production’s staging. What do they like about it? What would they do differently? Have students write up their critique or share in small-group discussions.

Final Project 2: Write a Soliloquy

Students will write a soliloquy that addresses the pain of love. Students will: 

  • Choose a character from the play. 

  • Write a soliloquy in verse for the character that sums up the outcomes of all the love conflicts in the play, demonstrating their understanding of the plot of Twelfth Night. 

  • Include words of wisdom about the pain of love.

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Allow students to write a summary in normal prose.

Increase difficulty

Have students memorize and recite their soliloquy to the class.

Assess the Assignments

Use the Rubric for Student Assessment to evaluate student work on the lesson assignments. 

Distribute the Student Reflection Worksheet. Guide students through the self-assessment and reflection questions.

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